Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, and all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar may be forced to miss their team’s semifinal match against Australia owing to illness, according to sources. With six points from four games, India advanced to the competition’s knockout rounds.
The team led by Harmanpreet was successful in defeating West Indies, Pakistan, and Ireland; Ireland was their sole loss. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is anticipated to command the team if Harmanpreet is unable to play. In addition, Radha Yadav, who missed the encounter against Ireland, has some injury worries.
India captain #HarmanpreetKaur, #PoojaVastrakar are uncertain for Women's #T20WorldCup semi-final against Australia, as per sources https://t.co/AnKvK503I4
— CricketNDTV (@CricketNDTV) February 23, 2023
Harmanpreet had outlined certain issues for Team India before the semifinal match. “We had a strong start, but we did not bowl as planned in the middle overs and handed up a lot of runs. That’s when we started to lose steam. Despite playing well with the bat, we did not achieve the desired run rate, which is why we lost wickets “Harmanpreet made this statement at the post-game speech following the defeat to England.
Harmanpreet also spoke extensively about the quantity of dot balls that Indian hitters had to contend with. After facing 51 dot balls in their loss to England, India showed some improvement against Ireland with 41 dots in their innings of 155 for 6, led by Smriti Mandhana‘s T20I career-best score of 87.
Harmanpreet added “Both teams are constantly under pressure during World Cup games. If 150 is on the board in these games, you always [have] the advantage, in my opinion. We are not placing an excessive amount of strain on ourselves. We simply go there, assess the circumstances, and play as necessary. Dot balls are an issue that we already worry about. We hope to see some progress in that department in the upcoming game.”
